Existing wager-based gaming tournaments have a number of drawbacks. One type of tournament is a slot tournament. Generally, in this type of a tournament a player pays an entry fee and then plays as many slot games as possible during a set period of time. One drawback to this type of tournament is that no skill is involved, making the play of each underlying slot game uninteresting.
Other types of tournaments include games of skill, but have other drawbacks. For example, a poker tournament may be played until all players except the winning player have lost their chips. In order to achieve this outcome, however, the tournament may last day or weeks. It may not be feasible for the players to participate for such a long period of time or for a casino to frequently dedicate the resources necessary to present such a tournament. Also, in these tournaments, if a player gets off to a bad start by losing most of their chips, it is nearly impossible for the player to ever catch up and win.
In order to cap the tournament duration, some tournaments simply allow a player to participate in a set number of games. For example, a player might play a set number of poker or blackjack games. However, these tournaments also have the problem that if a player starts poorly, they can't catch back up and win the tournament.
An improved gaming tournament is desired.